Today, July 1, Puerto Rico faces its seventh electricity rate hike in twelve months under power privatization, and the people are out of patience with the governments — their own, and “the U.S. itself”.
Natural disasters are not Puerto Rico’s biggest cause for concern. Rather, it is the decades of mismanagement of Puerto Rico’s power grid, and its government’s inability to comply with U.S. regulations to distribute relief funds — which the U.S. itself seriously delayed ...
Most links & emphasis in quoted text were added for reference & clarity.
<big><big>The largest renewable peaker power plant in the world has already been built in Puerto Rico, simply waiting to be tapped</big> says Javier Rúa-Jovet, chief policy officer of the</big>Solar & Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico.
It’s no coincidence that this year’s gathering of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, or SEARUC, was held in San Juan. All eyes are on Puerto Rico’s fascinating story of innovation in resilient energy, spurred principally by thousands of solar batteries deployed since the devastating hurricanes of 2017.
We’re now ... sitting on a massive virtual power plant, or VPP, an existing and growing network of solar powered storage units that can [operate] in unison to share power when most needed, like at peak power demand hours. It’s a clean, island-wide, resilient power generator that could save thousands of lives and dollars while preventing blackouts small and large. And turning our VPP on as fast as possible is the policy mandated by the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau/ PREB, the local regulator. All that’s left to do is to “flip the switch.”
...[Since the 2017 hurricanes,] virtually all new investment in renewables (fundamentally distributed solar plus storage) has come not from government — but nonprofits, private donations, and most importantly, Puerto Ricans themselves, aided by new and beneficial private financing options [, so over] 55,000 rooftop-solar powered batteries are already on Puerto Rican homes, a fleet that grows by around 2,000 every month [, equipped with built-in wireless Internet capacity to be switched on to feed power to the grid]….
According to Rúa-Jovet, the grid doesn’t need to wait a moment further on the much-bruited, long delayed grid overhaul in order for this VPP to be benefitting the island’s people now.
<big>But they’re stuck with Puerto Rico’s power plants depending on petroleum to generate about 97% of electricity,</big> while existing hooked-in renewables are only allowed to contribute 3%….
<small>UPDATE LINKS</small> below; background after the page break.
📌1 Nov 2022 7.000 sistemas solares vinculados van a ayudar a la red central en Puerto Rico ■1 Nov 2022 Puerto Rico will link up 7,000 solar systems to help its shaky grid:Sunrun is developing Puerto Rico’s first virtual power plant using rooftop solar and battery systems across the island.
📌13 Oct 2022 Indigenous Energy: Meet the changemakers bringing clean energy to their communities: Watch a conversation with grassroots leaders building small-scale solar and other clean energy solutions on Native lands, in Puerto Rico and in U.S. cities.
📌 7 Dec 2022 Biden admin seeks $3B to fund rooftop solar+batteries in Puerto Rico: Geared toward low-income households, the federal funding could help avert future blackouts, but some question whether they’ll ever see the money.
📌Canary Media Bilingual Reportage Project Puerto Rico’s solar boom: the grassroots solar movement sweeping the island.
and
📌17 Oct 2022 How to make sure your solar-plus-battery system works in a blackout
📌11 Oct 2022 How neighbors are banding together to get cheaper rooftop solar: Nonprofit Solar United Neighbors helps demystify the buying process and win better deals by bundling customers. It’s also become a force for solar advocacy.
[wik]<big> The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; Spanish: Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico, AEE) was an electric power company owned by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico responsible for electricity generation, power distribution, and power transmission [there].[1] PREPA[/AEE] was the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, making it a government monopoly, until on January 22, 2018, [then-governor] Ricardo Rossello, announced that all assets of the company will be sold in a general privatization of PREPA[/AEE].
The authority was ruled by a board of directors appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the [Puerto Rican] Senate. Since 2014, PREPA was subject to the Puerto Rico Energy Commission, another government agency whose board of directors was also appointed by the governor…...</big>
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- ABC NEWS - JUNE 29, 2022 <big>Puerto Ricans face 7th electric rate hike in just a year amid continuing power outages and ... economic crisis.</big>
...For a client that consumes 800 kilowatt hours, the new rate will be 33 cents per kwh, compared with the previous 29 cents. The average U.S. electric rate is 14 cents per kwh, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. [The increase goes into effect Friday, July 1], angering many on the island of 3.2 million people who just deal with constant power outages blamed on crumbling infrastructure due to lack of maintenance...
Th[is] increase comes as crews <big>begin</big> rebuilding Puerto Rico’s power grid that Hurricane Maria razed in September 2017, leavig some customers without power for up to a year. [The seven rate hikes across 12 months date back to when] LUMA, a private company, took over transmission and distribution a year ago from Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority,[privatization] which is burdened with $9 billion in debt and is trying to emerge from bankruptcy.
Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau said it would revise the electric rate by or before Oct. 1 amid concerns that the newest increase would spook potential investors already wary about the state of the island's electric grid.
<big>Puerto Rico’s power plants depend on petroleum to generate about 97% of [the island’s] electricity [supply]….</big>
- WALL ST JOURNAL - JUNE 27, 2022 <big>McKinsey Clients Won Puerto Rico Contracts as Firm Advised Government.</big> The consulting firm has helped the territory’s oversight board review contracts with companies that are also its clients. McKinsey has collected roughly $120 million for advising Puerto Rico’s financial-oversight board.
McKinsey & Co. has been a top government consultant since 2016 in Puerto Rico, helping the U.S. territory’s financial overseers manage its spending. In that time, corporate clients of the consulting firm have won tens of billions of dollars of government business, new disclosures show.
Since McKinsey began its work for Puerto Rico’s financial-oversight board, the firm has helped the board review and evaluate contracts with companies that are also McKinsey’s consulting clients, according to disclosures it filed in federal court last month, and other public documents. McKinsey clients include some of the largest fuel suppliers to Puerto Rico, an infrastructure company with a major role in operating the country’s electrical grid, and contractors who….
colloquially known as the La Junta de Control/Supervisión Fiscal is a government entity whose role to revise and approve the budget and obligations of the government of Puerto Rico was created by federal law PROMESA.
<big>Puerto Rican business leaders, scholars, teachers, performing artists, and activists have led protests against La Junta.[13] In July 2019, hundreds of thousands of people rallied in the streets of San Juan to chants for Governor Ricardo Rosselló to “resign and take the “junta” with you."[14] Many argue that The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico amounts to the return of colonial rule over Puerto Rico.[15] Among them, Dr. Ronald Mendoza-de Jesus wrote, "Many, myself included, feel that the time has come to finally dispel the fantasy of Puerto Rico’s sovereignty under US rule and to take up again the question of the economic and ontological implications of striving to become a sovereign nation."[11] Puerto Rican filmmaker Francis Negrón-Muntaner argues in "The Emptying Island," that PROMESA "marks a transition to a new iteration of colonial-capitalism".[16] Negrón-Muntaner notes that the Board is "composed of individuals with deep ties to the banking and investment world—including some involved in producing the debt crisis—and granted them broad powers over Puerto Rico’s elected government to assure that creditors will be paid.”[17] In 2019, thirteen members of the United States Congress included Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders signed a letter that demanded that the Puerto Rico fiscal oversight board, known as “la junta,” disclose its conflicts of interest.[18]</big>
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- CANARY MEDIA - JUNE 8, 2022 <big>Puerto Ricans are powering their own rooftop solar boom. Residents and shop owners are installing solar-plus-battery systems in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. <big>Will the government get on board?</big></big>
- JUNE 6, 2022 <big> FEMA Announces Progress in Puerto Rico’s Power Grid Work </big>
[???]
Puerto Rico's electric generation, transmission and distribution system is on its way to becoming more robust with the approval of funds for 15 projects under FEMA’s Accelerated Award’s Strategy, known as FAASt. The projects represent more than $107.3 million in approved federal funding to kickstart what will become a more reliable electric grid for all Puerto Rico residents. In addition to these 15 projects, an Architecture and Engineering project was approved in October of last year.
“Today we are once again demonstrating that both federal and state government agencies, as well as the private sector, have a common purpose in order for Puerto Rico's reconstruction to continue moving forward. Teamwork is a priority for all of us, and together with FEMA, COR3, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and LUMA, we are on the road to a strong and resilient energy system for our island. We continue to move ahead and speed up the pace of the remaining work, because the excellent relationship we have with federal government agencies is delivering results,” said Governor Pedro R. Pierluisi, who last week was in Washington, D.C., and spoke with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about the reconstruction and resiliency of the electric grid.
The historic amount of funds to rebuild the island’s power grid represents an opportunity to build back better. Hazard mitigation is key as an additional measure to protect the federal investment. Likewise, this allows for the use of higher quality materials, among other planning measures...
Puerto Ricans, already grumbling about much higher electricity rates under privatization, are expressing concern that the new operators of the power grid lack the experience and knowledge to cope with the challenges of hurricane season, which began June 1.
...It was nearly a year ago that Puerto Rican authorities awarded the contract for electricity distribution and transmission to LUMA Energy, a joint venture of Canada-based ATCO [Group] and US firm Quanta Services. State-run utility AEE[PREPA] was left with the responsibility for generating electricity.
[Angel Figueroa Jaramillo, head] of the UTIER union, which represents workers in the electrical and water sectors, told Efe that Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure is very complex, comprising 36,000 mi (57,936 km) of above-ground and buried wires. “That makes adequately maintaining the electric system much more difficult … Firstly, no electric system in the world is infallible against nature, but there are always mechanisms one can use to reduce the possibility of damage,” [but] LUMA lacks sufficient trained technicians to ensure reliability. “LUMA has demonstrated during the year that it has been operating that it daily has thousands of subscribers without service...”
...The Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA) said the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA {Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico, AEE} needs to push forward to meet the island’s aggressive renewable portfolio standard — 40% renewables by 2025 and 100% by 2050. This will mean acquiring about 3,750 MW of renewables by the 2025 deadline, according to Javier Rua-Jovet, chief policy officer for SESA.
In a Dec. 28, 2021, order, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) required PREPA to submit by January 10 an additional four projects of solar PV and an additional six storage bids, which is more than the storage and PV PREPA has said it has acquired.
At this time, PREPA had not met the January 10 deadline, said Rua-Jovet. “PREB basically said, ‘We told you what we wanted, we want 1,000 MW of solar and 500 MW of storage for round one [the first phase of the request for proposals] and you’re going to do that...” The utility must have a contracted project built within 24 months of signing a power purchase agreement, he added.
- JUNE 3, 2021 - AL DIA <big>Puerto Ricans fight against forced privatization of their power grid amid rising cost. </big> Demonstrators blocked a highway in Puerto Rico to show out against impositions forced by the privatization of PREPA.</big>
LUMA Energy recently took over the transmission and distribution of power for [PREPA], the main energy supplier for its 3.3 million inhabitants, and one of the two largest public power utilities in the United States. The move marks a major step towards transforming Puerto Rico’s government-owned power provider, but so far [has] has caused protest, higher energy bills, and ignited the settler-colonist relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Natural disasters are not Puerto Rico’s biggest cause for concern. Rather, it is the decades of mismanagement of Puerto Rico’s power grid, and its government’s inability to comply with U.S. regulations to distribute relief funds — which the U.S. seriously delayed — designated by the federal government.
The hurricanes were the initial factor, but it was the mismanaged power grid that caused the 11-month blackout back in 2017.
The agreement approved by Puerto Rico’s government and a federal control board calls for LUMA to spend billions in upgrading its energy grid. The majority of these funds are coming from FEMA. In turn, Luma will be receiving hundreds of millions of dollars for taking over the system.
The Associated Press reports officials are hoping LUMA can do better than Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, which has struggled to restore power to the island since 2017, while also juggling $9 billion in debt.
Even after going private, the control board and Puerto Rican government may be forced into an eventual power rate increase to meet bondholders’ demands.
That’s essentially what’s already happening….
- NEWSON6.COM - JUNE 30 <big>Oklahoma Energy Company Seeks Money For Work Performed[?] Following 2017 Hurricane In Puerto Rico</big>
The Oklahoma City-based company that [claims to have] rebuilt Puerto Rico's electric grid after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017 is still fighting to be paid for that work.
Mammoth Energy [Services] chief executive officer Arty Straehla said it's shocking to him [SHOCKING!] that it's now nearly five years after the storm and PREPA, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, still has not paid them in full.
"Our men and women that went to work on that island did not leave until the lights were on and the power was back on," Straehla said in an interview last week in Oklahoma….
...the above despite the June 29, 2022 report that the seventh rate hike in a year “comes as crews begin rebuilding Puerto Rico’s power grid that Hurricane Maria razed in September 2017.”
...Nestled in the bay not far from San Juan’s iconic citadel, the terminal is owned and operated by New Fortress Energy, a New York City–based gas company. Tanker ships deliver LNG to the terminal, which supplies gas for the city’s main power plant and Puerto Rico’s industrial facilities.
The terminal has been steeped in controversy since it began operating two years ago, not least because New Fortress never sought approval from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the facility. Last year, the independent government agency ordered New Fortress to retroactively submit the terminal for FERC’s review and potentially undergo further environmental studies. The company complied last September, but not without launching a legal challenge.
In mid-June, a federal appeals court sided with FERC and upheld the review, though the terminal will continue operating while the process plays out. New Fortress, which did not reply to requests for comment, has previously accused FERC of engaging in “arbitrary-and-capricious decision-making” in claiming jurisdiction over the LNG terminal.
Local environmental groups, energy experts and faith leaders applauded the court’s decision, saying that it will give neighboring communities a chance to formally weigh in on the terminal for the first time.
The June 14 ruling is “a relief” that will “help prevent future companies like New Fortress Energy from operating without any oversight and permits,” Sary N. Rosario Ferreira, a member of El Puente’s Latino Climate Action Network, said in a statement released by Earthjustice. “This motivates us to continue demanding ecojustice for our communities,”
Rosario Ferreira is a pastor in northern Puerto Rico, and she recently joined a dozen other Christian leaders in filing comments to FERC. The coalition urged commissioners to take into account not only the terminal’s current activities but also the possibility of future expansion — a development they said would threaten ecosystems and people’s health in surrounding neighborhoods.
“We emphasize our now escalated fear” of expanding the facility “that is so close to our homes, schools and places of worship,” the group wrote in a letter to FERC…..
After Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico five years ago, toppling the island’s electricity system, the government vowed to build a cleaner, more resilient grid in its place. To date, the progress has been piecemeal — so much so that residents are taking matters into their own hands, installing tens of thousands of rooftop solar systems. Now regulators are finally on the cusp of approving dozens of large-scale solar and battery storage projects, slowly moving Puerto Rico closer toward its goal of using 100 percent renewable electricity by 2050. ...